“I can only describe this as a military invasion and occupation,” Ukraine’s newly named interior minister, Arsen Avakov, wrote in an online statement.
Meanwhile, Russians armed with rifles and wearing military uniforms stormed into Crimea’s main airport and took up positions on Friday.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said movements of armored vehicles belonging to the Russian Black Sea Fleet were prompted by the need to ensure security of its base and didn’t contradict the lease terms, Haartez reported.

MOGADISHU: A car bomb exploded near a caf'e in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu Thursday in an area close to the intelligence headquarters, killing at least seven people, police said.“We have counted seven civilians killed in the car bomb, but the toll could be higher as many people were also wounded,” police official Ahmed Mumin told AFP.

The cafe, near the city’s Lido beach, was reportedly popular with security officials. The blast is the latest in a string of attacks in the dangerous capital, where Al-Qaeda-linked Shabab insurgents are fighting to topple the internationally backed government. There was no immediate claim of responsiblity, but the blast comes just a week after the militants carried out a major attack against the heavily fortified presidential palace, killing officials and guards in a fierce gun battle. The attack comes amid an apparent upsurge of Shabab bombings in and around Mogadishu, with nighttime mortar rounds fired into the vast, heavily guarded airport complex, home to the 22,000-strong African Union force fighting the Shabab as well as foreign diplomats and aid workers. The group, who also carried out last year’s attack at the Westgate shopping mall in the Kenyan capital, in which gunmen killed at least 67 people, once controlled most of southern and central Somalia but withdrew from fixed positions in the war-ravaged coastal capital two years ago. AU troops — including large contingents from Uganda, Kenya and Burundi — have since recaptured the insurgents’ main bases and tried to prop up Somalia’s fledgling government forces.

ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia: Deposed Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych insisted Friday in his first public appearance since fleeing to Russia that he had not been overthrown and would continue to fight for the future of Ukraine.Yanukovych told reporters in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don that he had been “compelled to leave” Ukraine after he received threats to his security.“I have not been overthrown by anyone, I was compelled to leave Ukraine due to an immediate threat to my life and the life of those close to me,” he said, sitting at a desk alongside a senior editor from the ITAR-TASS news agency in front of three Ukrainian flags.“I intend to continue the fight for the future of Ukraine against those who try to saddle it with fear and terror.”

Yanukovych, who fled after being impeached by parliament on Saturday, savaged the anti-Kremlin and pro-EU forces who have now taken power.“Power in Ukraine has been taken by nationalist, pro-fascist young people who represent the absolute minority of people in Ukraine.”“This is anarchy, terror and chaos,” he added.But Yanukovych, 63, speaking in Russian, said he wanted to apologize for leaving Ukraine in its current state.“I am ashamed. I want to say I apologize to the Ukrainian people for what happened in Ukraine and that I did not have the strength to keep stability.”He blamed the “irresponsible policies” of the West for the crisis in the country and said he would not take part in “illegal” presidential election planned by Ukraine’s new leadership for May 25.Yanukovych said he spoke by telephone to Russian President Vladimir Putin after arriving in the country but had not yet met with the Kremlin chief.He said such a face-to-face meeting was planned in the future. Yanukovych said he was surprised that Putin had not yet spoken out on Ukraine since his flight.Yanukovych said he had arrived in Russia “thanks to a patriotically-minded young officer” without giving further details. He said he would only return to Ukraine once his personal security was assured.Yanukovych said he could understand the anger of citizens in Ukraine’s pro-Russian region of Crimea against the new Ukrainian authorities.“I consider that what is happening in Crimea is an absolutely natural reaction to the bandit-like takeover that happened in Kiev.”He said he still saw himself as the Ukrainian president and as such believed that Crimea must remain part of Ukraine.

Thursday, February 27, 2014

Substitute teacher, 72, arrested for furiously masturbating in high school hallway

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Substitute teacher, 72, arrested for furiously masturbating in high school hallway

A 72-year old substitute teacher at a public high school in the never-ending suburbs of Connecticut proved that he’s still got it when he was busted for allegedly masturbating right there in a hallway.
The septuagenarian teacher is Michael Luecke, reports The Courant. The incident happened on Wednesday. The scene of the crime was Westhill High School in Stamford.
Police say a school paraprofessional spotted Luecke doing the deed just after 7:30 a.m. The woman said she walked by Luecke as he was sitting in the hallway. She thought maybe he was hurt.

When she approached him, she said, she realized that the 72-year old substitute teacher had his hand stuck down his pants and was “manipulating his penis.”

The school paraprofessional then notified school officials, who notified police.

At that point, school officials removed Luecke from the class he was calmly teaching.

According to The Courant, surveillance video of the scene shows Luecke in a stairwell “suspiciously manipulating the front of his pants while looking at students in the courtyard.”

The sub then vanishes behind some lockers for a moment. Then, he reappears, lying on his back on the floor, focused on the task at hand. At some point, the shocked paraprofessional discovered him — but not before a half dozen students stroll by.

It’s not clear if the students noticed Luecke, realized what he was doing or cared. Nevertheless, school officials as well as local police are working to identify the teenagers to see if they need counseling.

CULIACAN, Mexico – The sun, sand and partying are no longer the only attractions in the Mexican Pacific resort city of Mazatlan, where the building used as a hideout by Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquin “El Chapo” (Shorty) Guzman has become the most popular place to visit since his arrest over the weekend.

The Miramar condominium tower, located on Avenida del Mar, has become a tourist attraction and the most photographed place in Mazatlan since marines captured Mexico’s most-wanted man on Saturday.

Both tourists and residents flocked to the building where the drug lord spent his last hours of freedom as soon as the world press put this coastal city in the spotlight.

Taxi drivers are now offering “narcotours” that cost between 250 pesos and 300 pesos ($19 or $22) and include a look at the Miramar condo and visits to regular attractions, such as the Monument to the Family, the seaside walk and Paseo del Centenario.

“Since Saturday, I’ve made about 10 trips through the city and they’ve all asked me to take them to where Chapo was captured,” taxi driver Jaime Lopez told Efe.

“The truth is that I’ve had a lot of work because it’s a novelty for everybody, and you give the customer whatever he wants,” Lopez said.

“I came to take some photos out of curiosity, I’ll take them with me as a reminder of what happened while I was on vacation in Mazatlan,” one tourist said.

The arrest of the 56-year-old Guzman, the world’s most notorious and powerful drug lord, has given a boost to tourism rather than scaring away visitors, and hotel reservations have “exploded,” Sinaloa state Tourism Secretary Francisco Cordova Celaya told Efe.

“Strangely enough, we have seen a rise in the number of reservations. They (hoteliers) tell me that the telephones have not stopped ringing because people want to come to the port city,” the state official said.

Guzman fled to Mazatlan and took out a three-month lease on an apartment at the Miramar after marines nearly arrested him on Feb. 17 at a safe house in Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa.

The drug lord, who was on Forbes magazine’s list of global billionaires, was captured by the security forces in Mazatlan on Saturday without any shots being fired.

Mazatlan has now joined a group of cities, like Culiacan, that tourists visit to see the businesses, houses, murder sites and tombs of notorious drug traffickers.

One of the most visited places in Sinaloa’s capital is Plaza Cinepolis, where one of the brothers of Juarez cartel boss Amado Carrillo Fuentes, who was known as the “Lord of the Skies,” was gunned down along with his wife.

The parking lot of the City Club, where Chapo’s son, 22-year-old Edgar Guzman Lopez died in a fusillade of 500 bullets along with Arturo Meza Cazares, the son of Blanca Margarita “La Emperatriz” (The Empress) Cazares Salazar, is also a popular attraction.

Cazares Salazar has been identified by U.S. officials as the leader of a money laundering ring that works for Guzman and another top Sinaloa cartel boss, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada.

The chapel of Jesus Malverde, the patron saint of drug traffickers, is a frequently visited and photographed site.

Narcotours first became popular in Mazatlan after Tijuana cartel boss Ramon Arellano Felix was gunned down in the Hotel Plaza Gaviotas parking lot in 2002.

The old narcotour route included a stop at the ruins of the “Frankie Oh!” club, which was owned by drug trafficker Francisco Arellano Felix until being seized by the government.

CARACAS – The Venezuelan Attorney General’s Office on Wednesday announced the arrests of five members of the Sebin intelligence service in connection with the Feb. 12 shooting deaths of two people following a protest, bringing to eight the total number of Sebin personnel in custody.

Seven of the eight agents may face homicide charges, the AG’s office said in a statement.

On Feb. 12, a demonstration by students and other opposition elements was held in Caracas to protest the policies of the leftist government of President Nicolas Maduro.

At the end of the march, some people broke off from the group to stage attacks on public buildings and vehicles while others ran through nearby streets, where several of them were shot.

Bassil Da Costa, a student participating in the protest, and Juan Montoya, a member of a pro-government organization, died.

A few hours later, another young man, Robert Redman, who had participated in the march that morning, was shot to death.

Attorney General Luisa Ortega announced on Monday the arrests of three Sebin agents linked to two of the three deaths and said that the cases “are very clear.”

In the same remarks, she said that 13 people had died in the protests besetting the country over the past two weeks.

Eight days ago, Maduro fired Sebin director Gen. Manuel Bernal after admitting that members of the service failed to abide by the order to stay off the streets on Feb. 12

MEXICO CITY – Two Otomi Indian women are demanding that the Mexican federal Attorney General’s Office compensate them for the four years they spent in prison on kidnapping convictions that were later thrown out by the courts.

Alberta Alcantara and Teresa Gonzalez, who are from the central state of Queretaro, said in a press conference Tuesday that the AG’s office was trying to get out of its responsibility in the case.

The AG’s office filed a review motion on Feb. 7 in an effort to get out of paying compensation and making a public apology in the case, the women said.

“I cannot believe that the AG’s office does not accept the errors it made and I cannot believe that they keep saying it was us, even when we have shown that we are innocent, they keep insisting that there was a crime,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez, Alcantara and fellow Otomi Jacinta Francisco Marcial, who operated market stalls in Queretaro, were arrested in August 2006.

The three women were later sentenced to 21 years in prison on charges they kidnapped six federal agents who claimed that the vendors took them hostage in March 2006 during an operation targeting sellers of pirated DVDs.

The Supreme Court ordered the women released from prison in 2010.

Marcial was released from prison in September 2009, followed by Alcantara and Gonzalez on April 28, 2010.

“I just want all of this to end and for the president (Enrique Peña Nieto) to acknowledge that we are innocent. For the AG’s office to obey the Supreme Court ruling. I don’t want to continue doing this, it’s really tiring. Make good the harm done and let this end,” Alcantara said.

The Attorney General’s Office will not respond because it has taken the position that “we committed the crime and we are guilty even though we’ve shown that we are innocent,” Alcantara said.

A court ordered the federal AG’s office last November to compensate the two women for damages due to irregularities linked to prosecutors in the case.

Alcantara demanded that federal prosecutors admit that the women were innocent in the same media outlets used to accuse them of committing crimes.

The two women were accompanied at the press conference by Amnesty International and Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez Human Rights Center representatives.

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

DAMASCUS, Syria: The chief of the United Nations relief agency supporting Palestinian refugees said Tuesday he is “deeply disturbed and shaken” by the despair and destruction he’d seen in a besieged camp in the Syrian capital.The Yarmouk refugee camp, located in southern Damascus, is an opposition enclave under the tight blockade of forces loyal to President Bashar Assad. More than 100 people have died in Yarmouk since mid-2013 as a result of starvation and illnesses exacerbated by hunger or lack of medical aid, according to UN figures.

( Baby who died of hunger )

Filippo Grandi, the Commissioner General of UNRWA, was visiting Yarmouk as the relief agency resumed food distribution there. UNRWA shipments to the camp have been disrupted for months, sometimes cut off for weeks at a time, and Yarmouk has suffered from crippling shortages of food and medicine.“I am deeply disturbed and shaken by what I observed,” Grandi said in a statement. Palestinian refugees to whom he spoke in Yarmouk Monday were “traumatized by what they have lived through.”The extent of damage to the refugees’ homes was shocking, he also said, adding that many Palestinians in Yarmouk need immediate support, particularly food and medical treatment.Yarmouk is the largest of nine Palestinian camps in Syria. Since the camp’s creation in 1957, it has evolved into a densely populated residential district just five miles (eight kilometers) from the center of Damascus. Several generations of Palestinian refugees have lived there.About half of the camp’s 150,000 residents have fled since fighting erupted in mid-December 2012, according to estimates of UNRWA, which administers Palestinian camps in the Middle East. Some sought refuge in neighboring Lebanon, and others found shelter in UNRWA schools in Damascus and other Syrian cities.When the uprising against Assad erupted in March 2011, most Palestinians stayed on the sidelines. As the revolt turned into a civil war that reached Yarmouk in December 2012, most residents backed the rebels and some even took up arms to fight Assad’s troops and pro-government Palestinian fighters.Also on Tuesday, the leader of a powerful Al-Qaeda-linked jihadi group in Syria gave a rival Al-Qaeda breakaway group a five-day ultimatum to seek arbitration by leading clerics or be expelled from the region.Abu Mohammed Al-Golani, leader of the Nusra Front, warned the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant that it would be driven both from Syria and “even from Iraq” if it rejected the results of arbitration “under God’s law.”The threat came in an audio message produced by the Nusra Front media arm Al-Manara Al-Baydha and was posted on militant websites Tuesday.Al-Golani’s ultimatum came two days after the killing of Abu Khaled Al-Suri who acts as Al-Qaeda chief Ayman Al-Zawahri’s representative in Syria. He was believed to be assassinated by two ISIL suicide bombers.

MEXICO CITY – The Federal Police arrested 26 people on kidnapping charges and freed four captives in operations carried out in three Mexican states, the Mexican National Security Commission said Tuesday.

Eleven suspected kidnappers were arrested in Mexico state, which surrounds the Federal District and forms part of the Mexico City metropolitan area, and a person kidnapped on Feb. 18 in Morelos state was freed, the commission said in a statement.

Federal Police officers arrested four people, including a Peruvian woman, and freed a captive during a raid on a house on the east side of Mexico City.

Officers seized two vehicles, 37 cell phones, clothing with police logos and other gear from the suspects, the commission said.

Five people linked to at least 10 kidnapping cases in the capital and Mexico state were arrested by the Federal Police.

Two vehicles, two firearms, 14 cell phones, documents and other items were seized from the suspects.

“Six suspected kidnappers were arrested and two victims were rescued” in the southeastern state of Tabasco, the National Security Commission said.

President Enrique Peña Nieto’s administration implemented a strategy in late January for fighting kidnapping, a crime that has been rising in recent months.

A total of 1,695 kidnappings were reported in Mexico last year, up 20 percent from the 2012 level, National Public Safety System figures show.

An unknown number of kidnappings, however, are never reported in Mexico.

MOSCOW: Russian riot police detained over a hundred protesters on Monday at a Moscow courthouse where seven opponents of President Vladimir Putin were jailed from two and a half to four years over a demonstration that turned violent.

The protesters, who blame police for the violence in central Moscow in 2012, demanded the release of the defendants and shouted “shame” and “Maidan” — a reference to the Kiev square that has been the focus of protests that brought the overthrow of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich.Among those detained were two members of the punk protest band Pussy Riot, released in December near the end of two-year sentences for their own anti-Putin protest in Moscow’s main cathedral in 2012. Alexei Navalny, who emerged from a wave of protests that year as the top opposition leader, was also held.Relatives and lawyers of the seven said they believed the upheaval in neighboring Ukraine, where police were among the dead in a conflict the Kremlin blames on opposition leaders and the West, had prompted the court to impose prison sentences as a signal that such actions would not be tolerated in Russia.A Russian state TV news show host linked the trial with the events in Ukraine in a broadcast on Sunday, saying the bloodshed that killed at least 82 people in Kiev last week had started with actions similar to the 2012 anti-Putin protest.Defense lawyer Dmitry Agranovsky said he would appeal his client Yaroslav Belousov’s two-and-a-half-year prison sentence.“These sentences are cruel and wrong. They were handed down because of the political situation...We hope our appeal will show that they made a mistake and the defendants won’t have to answer for the Maidan.” An eighth defendant was given a suspended sentence that allows her to avoid jail, but the rulings caused outrage among Kremlin critics who see the prisoners as victims of a clampdown on dissent during Putin’s third term as president.Opposition activists said more than 230 people were detained by riot police grabbing protesters and dragging them to waiting buses. Police put the figure at more than 100.The judge on Friday had found the defendants guilty of rioting and attacking police at a protest on May 6, 2012, the day before Putin, in power since 2000, returned to the presidency after a stint as prime minister.The defendants — seven men and a woman, most of them in their 20s — blame police for the clashes that erupted and pleaded not guilty. The men have been in custody since 2012.

MIRANSHAH: The Pakistani Taleban on Monday rejected an offer to swap their guns for cricket bats and play a match for peace, saying the sport was responsible for turning youth away from jihad.The militant group were responding to a call made earlier in the day by a top Pakistani minister who offered to host a match with the militants to revive stalled peace talks in comments which provoked derision on social media.

Pakistan’s government entered into a formal dialogue with the Taleban earlier this month, but the process faltered after the militants executed 23 kidnapped soldiers.The military has retaliated with a series of airstrikes in the tribal areas that border Afghanistan and are home to the Taleban’s top leadership, killing dozens.With talks on a sticky wicket, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said Monday that cricket could offer hope.“I have information that the Taleban keep an interest in cricket. So if this message can go through to them, we can have a cricket match with them which can have a better result,” he told reporters in Islamabad following an exhibition game. “The Taleban follow the Pakistan cricket team with keen interest so this can be a platform.”But speaking to AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location, Taleban spokesman Shahidullah Shahid said his group would refuse to play ball. “These secular people want to distance our youth from jihad and Islamic teachings through cricket. We are strongly against cricket and dislike it,” he said.Reaction to the minister’s suggestion that the Taleban could be tempted into talks through cricket was also overwhelmingly negative on Twitter, which is used mainly by the country’s English-speaking elite. In a reference to bloody toll inflicted by the Taleban on Pakistan’s forces over the years, one user called @MidhatZ, said: “Cricket on a red pitch and may be they could bowl with our soldiers heads?”Another user, @kursed suggested the minister “should invite the families of those beheaded” by the Taleban to the match.Meanwhile, unknown gunmen killed a senior commander of the Pakistani Taleban who had a government bounty on his head on Monday.Asmatullah Shaheen, who was believed to be in his mid-40s and was a former interim chief of Pakistan’s Taleban, had a ($95,000) bounty payable for his death. “Unknown attackers opened fire on Asmatullah Shaheen’s car. He along with three associates died on the spot,” a security official in Miranshah told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Saturday 22 February 2014 - 13:30

Casablanca- Snakes are bewitching creatures to watch, but they can also be the cause of unforeseen tragedies. A snake charmer in Marrakech lost his life on Friday after he was bitten by one of his snakes.

A Moroccan snake charmer lost his life last Friday in Marrakech at Mamounia Hospital after he was bitten by a snake he was charming in the red city’s famous Jama El Fna Square.

The snake charmer had reportedly attempted to save himself traditionally by just trying to suck the poison out of his vein using his mouth. That method did not work eventually.

As the snake charmer felt acute dizziness, he asked his friend to take him on his motorcycle to Mamounia Hospital, where he died afterwards.

Trusted sources from Jama El Fna told MWN that the performer’s body would be autopsied to verify the cause of his death.

The sad incident has stirred a debate among Marrakech residents, as well as Moroccans from other cities who visit Jamaa El Fna especially to enjoy the memorizing performances of snake charmers.

To what extent are safety standards respected by all performers in Jamaa El Fnaa? Can we still enjoy traditional performances there without recalling incidents like these?

Saturday, February 22, 2014

SRINAGAR, India: A Pakistani prisoner who was arrested by authorities in India for trespassing more than two years ago has been found hanging inside a jail in Indian Kashmir, an official said Saturday.

Showkat Ali, 42, a resident of Sialkot in Pakistan, had been lodged in a jail in Amphala, about 300 kilometers (186 miles) from the region’s main city of Srinagar, since December 2011. He was arrested on charges of illegally crossing the de facto border between the two rival countries.“An inmate informed the jail authorities last (Friday) night that Showkat was hanging from the grill of a toilet in the barracks,” jail superintendent Harish Kotwal told AFP.“He was hanging by a scarf and after he was brought down, the jail doctor declared him dead,” Kotwal said. The incident will be investigated by a magistrate and formalities for handing over his body to Pakistani authorities have begun, another police officer said. Last May, a Pakistani prisoner died of his injuries after he was savagely beaten by fellow convicts in another jail in Indian Kashmir, leading to calls for an international probe into his death. His death followed a similar assault on Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail. A high profile convict, Singh had been on the death row for more than 21 years. India and Pakistan frequently arrest rival citizens for trespassing and many of them languish in jail for years even after serving their term as poor diplomatic ties mean fulfilling official requirements can take a long time.

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

TBILISI: A court in Georgia on Monday sentenced former prime minister Vano Merabishvili to five and a half years in prison for embezzlement in a case his lawyer and allies denounced as political persecution.The court found Merabishvili, who headed the government of ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili, guilty of giving fictitious jobs to activists who were involved in his party’s losing parliamentary election campaign in 2012.

Judge Natia Barbakadze also issued a $27,000 fine to Merabishvili’s co-defendant, former health minister Zurab Chiaberashvili.Merabishvili, who has been in pretrial detention since May 2013, had served as secretary general of Saakashvili’s United National Movement (UNM) party, which was defeated by billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili’s Georgian Dream coalition.“We will appeal the illegal verdict,” Merabishvili’s lawyer Otar Kakhidze told AFP, accusing the judge of acting under pressure from the prosecutor’s office.“This is nothing but political persecution aimed at destroying the main opposition party in Georgia,” he said.UNM’s foreign secretary and the former security adviser to Saakashvili, Giga Bokeria, said the verdict “destroys political culture in Georgia as political opponents, opposition leaders are being jailed for political reasons.”“It’s a very bad day not only for justice, but also for democratic tradition in Georgia,” Bokeria told journalists.“The current government — which ordered the verdict — will pay a high political price.”Dozens of Saakashvili’s allies have been placed under investigation for corruption and abuse of office charges since the end of the former president’s 10-year stay in power, which included a politically damaging 2008 war with neighbor Russia.Western officials have expressed concern over any investigations that could be perceived as being politically motivated, but the Georgian Dream government has repeatedly rejected any political motives behind the prosecutions.Ivanishvili, whose net worth was valued at $5.3 billion by Forbes magazine last year, became Georgia’s prime minister after the 2012 parliamentary election, but stepped down in November in favor of his hand-picked ally, 31-year-old Irakli Garibashvili.But Ivanishvili is still believed to wield massive influence over Georgia’s politics.Russia has expressed hope that it can launch a political dialogue with the new Georgian government after breaking off all contacts with Saakashvili’s team in 2008.Merabishvili, 45, is one of Saakashvili’s closest allies who served as his interior minister and was appointed as PM just ahead of October 2012 elections.Accused by critics of using disproportionate force against mass anti-government rallies in 2007 and 2009, Saakashvili led all-out anti-graft and anti-crime campaigns that transformed Georgia’s once highly corrupt police force and saw a dramatic drop in crime rates.After last year’s presidential election, Saakashvili left Georgia and now resides in the United States where he teaches at Tufts University.im/ma/mfp

MANILA: Government agents raided an Internet child porn operation based in a Philippine school and arrested its president and eight other people, investigators said Tuesday.The suspects used a room at the Mountaintop Christian Academy to post online images and video of children and adults for foreign consumption, said Ronald Aguto, cybercrime investigation head in the National Bureau of Investigation.

Authorities were still investigating, but Aguto said it didn’t appear that children at the school were being abused and that the operators were uploading pre-recorded images and video stored.The school had 2,000 elementary and high school students, Aguto added. Its license was revoked in 2006 for unknown reasons but it had remained open.Puring Martinez, the arrested president and owner of the private school, told GMA television network she rented out the room to the Internet site operators to augment the income of the school because fees paid by students were not enough to cover costs.She said she was aware that the Internet links sold can only be opened by a foreigner who will use his card and that the links lead to “naughty” materials.Martinez’ son, Tom, said the school had only 260 preschool, elementary and high school pupils, and that their permit to operate was valid. It was not clear why there was a discrepancy with the NBI information.He said the Internet operation was owned by an American from Tennessee, who rented two rooms for 40,000 pesos ($900) in a bungalow separate from the classrooms but within the school compound. All of the suspects arrested are Filipino, and the American’s whereabouts were not clear.The raid shows the extent of the task facing Philippine authorities in cracking down on child pornographers, who exploit weak law enforcement and increasing broadband Internet penetration to base operations in the country.Gilbert Sosa, director of the national police’s Anti-Cybercrime Group, said last month the Philippines was one of the top 10 sources of child pornography in the world, and that police have been cooperating with other countries to crack down on it.Two other Internet porn operations in Quezon city were raided Monday night. At least 22 people were arrested in those two raids and more than two dozen computers seized.Aguto said they have yet to conduct a forensic investigation on the seized computers, but based on what they have gathered so far, the suspects will be charged with violating laws against child pornography and obscene publication of adult pornographic images.More than 40 computers were seized as evidence during the raid late Monday at the school in Metropolitan Manila’s Muntinlupa city.“It was like a computer lab inside the school,” Aguto said in a telephone interview. “Even during daytime, when the pupils were there, they were using it for this kind of offense.”He said the site operators worked day and night, chatting online with clients and pretending to be women or girls depending on what the client wanted. They would then upload pictures and pre-recorded video of a nude girl or woman they claim to be.Last month, Britain’s National Crime Agency said child abuse investigators in Britain, the US and Australia had dismantled an organized crime group that streamed footage of child sexual abuse. The ring abused impoverished children as young as 6, the agency said. Authorities made 29 arrests, including 11 people in the Philippines who had facilitated the crime. Some were members of the children’s families.

BANGKOK: Hundreds of riot police attempted to clear out anti-government protest sites around Thailand’s capital on Tuesday, triggering clashes that left three people dead and 57 others injured.Multiple gunshots were heard near the prime minister’s offices, where riot police had started to remove protesters and dismantle a makeshift stage, but it wasn’t clear who was firing.

Erawan emergency medical services said a male civilian died from a head wound and a police officer received a fatal chest wound. It also said another man died, but didn’t have further details. It said 57 others were injured in the clashes.Department of Special Investigation chief Tharit Pengdit told a news conference that the protesters had launched grenades at the police. Police later withdrew.In another blow to the government, the state anti-corruption agency charged Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on Tuesday with improperly handling an expensive rice subsidy scheme, putting her in jeopardy of being impeached.The National Anti-Corruption Commission said Yingluck’s government proceeded with the scheme despite advice from experts that it was potentially wasteful and prone to corruption. The government has been months late in making payments to farmers for the rice they pledged to sell at above-market prices.The commission said Yingluck has been called to formerly hear the charges on Feb. 27. If it decides to submit the case to the Senate for possible impeachment, Yingluck will immediately be suspended from performing her official duties pending a Senate trial.Yingluck’s elected government has been attempting to avoid violence to keep the military from stepping in. Thailand has been wracked by political unrest since 2006, when Yingluck’s brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, was ousted by a military coup after being accused of corruption and abuse of power. Since then, his supporters and opponents have vied for power, sometimes violently.Tuesday’s violence erupted after police moved into several locations around the city to detain and remove protesters who have been camped out for weeks to press for Yingluck’s resignation. The protesters want the formation of an unelected people’s council to implement reforms to end corruption and keep the Shinawatra family permanently out of politics.They have blocked access to government offices since late last year and occupied key intersections around Bangkok for about a month. Until now, the police had refrained from dispersing them for fear of unleashing violence.But on Monday, the government’s special security command center announced it would reclaim five protest sites around the city for public use, a move made possible under a state of emergency declared in January. Thousands of police officers, including armed anti-riot squads, were deployed across the city Tuesday in an operation the government called “Peace for Bangkok.”Earlier Tuesday, 144 protesters near the Energy Ministry in the northern part of the city were peacefully detained and herded onto police trucks to be taken away for questioning, Tharit said.Transport Minister Chadchart Sittipunt told The Associated Press the protesters hijacked two of the city’s public buses and used them to block a rally site at the Interior Ministry near the Grand Palace.The operations came a day before the Civil Court is to rule on the government’s invocation of the emergency decree, which allows authorities to exercise wide powers to detain protesters and hold them in custody for 30 days without charges.If the decree is struck down by the court, the government will be forced to dismantle the special security command center it had set up to enforce the emergency measures.Since the protests began in November, at least 14 people have been killed and hundreds injured.

Monday, February 17, 2014

Saudi Arabia, a supporter of the Syrian opposition, blamed Bashar Assad’s regime on Monday for the failure of the recent Geneva II peace talks held in Switzerland.A second round of US and Russian-backed peace talks between regime representatives and the opposition broke down on Saturday in the Swiss city. No date has been set for a third round.The Council of Ministers, chaired by Second Deputy Premier Prince Muqrin, “regretted the failure of the Geneva II talks to reach tangible results,” SPA reported quoting Health Minister and Acting Information Minister Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah.

Saudi Arabia “holds the (Syrian) regime responsible for this failure, caused by its intransigence,” the Cabinet said, accusing the regime’s delegation of working to “derail the conference.”Saudi Arabia is a major backer of the Syrian rebels in a conflict that is estimated to have killed more than 140,000 people since it erupted in March 2011.The Cabinet wished success for Crown Prince Salman during his current visits to Pakistan, Japan, India, and the Maldives, adding that the royal visits were in continuation of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah’s approach to promote contacts with world leaders.The Cabinet praised the Prince Sultan Qur’an and Sunnah Competition for ASEAN and Pacific Countries in Jakarta, while thanking Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for patronizing it closing ceremony.The Cabinet also expressed its thanks for the guests of the National Heritage and Culture Festival in Janadriyah for their appreciation of the Kingdom for giving an opportunity to writers and intellectuals to present their views through its cultural programs.It also reviewed the first conference of business schools of GCC universities, whose opening was patronized by Prince Muqrin, and said it would contribute to the process of integration and promotion of joint GCC action.The Cabinet emphasized the Kingdom’s distinguished relations with Lebanon, expressing hope that the formation of the new Lebanese government headed by Tammam Salam would boost the country’s stability and prosperity.The Cabinet endorsed an agreement with the World Assembly of Muslim Youth for hosting its headquarters in Riyadh.It also approved the statute of the Arab Union for Natural Reserves, which was passed by the Arab League Ministerial Council on March 10, 2012.The Cabinet approved a new system to ensure transparency, accountability and verification of the effectiveness of government agencies in the use of funds allocated to them and achieve the best results for each expenditure.It authorized the minister of housing to sign a cooperation agreement with South Korea. It appointed Abdulmohsen Al-Faris, Abdullah Al-Fawzan, and Ibrahim Balghunaim members of Technical and Vocational Training Corporation’s board for three years, representing the private sector. It also renewed Samir Al-Tebayeb’s membership to the board.The Cabinet appointed Talal bin Abduljalil Barri ambassador, Saleh bin Abdulkarim Al-Sheiha minister plenipotentiary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Abdullah bin Moussa Al-Tayer undersecretary for educational affairs at the Ministry of Higher Education; Mutlaq bin Dughaim Al-Khamaali director-general of health in the Riyadh region; Abdulaziz bin Othman Al-Shabanat adviser at the Ministry of Civil Service; and Abdullatif bin Mohammed Al-Asheikh legal adviser at the Supreme Judiciary Council

Charcas , SLP . - The state Department of Labor and Social Welfare has been in constant contact and coordination with its federal counterpart, to support technical and operational way the actions and responsibilities to investigate the fatal accident where five miners died in Charcas.Coordination with the federal agency inspections are performed within the mine safety and health .Has ensured that they receive psychological care to the families of the victims , in addition to receiving the compensation awarded to them by law.Onsite investigation is underway concerning security measures unfortunate accident .The authorities , union and Grupo Mexico Own IMMSA , together with the respective governing bodies , Registrar General from San Luis Potosi State , CAVID , Civil Protection, the delegation of the Federal and State STPS STPS , are already meeting together , in all aspects the mishap .Competition and respective authorities will be responsible for manifest and make known the facts in order to avoid speculation about it , because this fact is very sad and unfortunately affected families.

MEXICO CITY – Sen. David Penchyna, chairman of the Senate Energy Committee, said in a social media post that he was robbed this weekend by several armed subjects at a restaurant in Mineral del Monte, a city in the central state of Hidalgo.

“This morning, in the company of several friends, we were robbed in Mineral el Monte. Fortunately, we are all fine,” Penchyna, a member of the governing Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, said in a Twitter post on Saturday.

Penchyna and the businessmen he was dining with were robbed of more than 500,000 pesos ($37,758) at the El Galeron restaurant, media reports said.

The other victims were Cemex executive Mauricio Bremer and Jose Antonio Garcia, president of soccer team Atlante, the El Universal newspaper reported.

Police launched a search for the robbers but no arrests have been made, media reports said.

MEXICO CITY – Mexico’s federal government has achieved a breakthrough in a dispute between the Yaqui Indians and the government of the northern state of Sonora, securing an agreement from the Yaquis to end to a nine-month road-blocking protest over construction of an aqueduct.

In a statement Friday, the Government Secretariat said President Enrique Peña Nieto’s administration would ensure full compliance with court rulings pertaining to the Independence Aqueduct, which the Indians have opposed on the argument that it will leave them without water.

The Yaquis in 2009 began their struggle against the 152-kilometer (95-mile) aqueduct, which was built to transport water from the Yaqui River to the booming manufacturing hub of Hermosillo, Sonora’s capital, and began operating in April 2013.

The protest measures have included blocking a section of the Mexico City-Nogales federal highway since May, 28, 2013.

The Yaquis alleged the aqueduct, built at a cost of 4 billion pesos (some $300 million), would pose a serious threat to their way of life.

On Feb. 23, 2011, the Environment and Natural Resources Secretariat authorized construction of the Independence Aqueduct without respecting indigenous peoples’ right to be consulted about projects affecting their resources, the Supreme Court ruled last year in ordering that the consultation process be held.

The roadblock is to be lifted before March 1 after the Indians received assurances during a meeting in Sonora that the federal government would respect an agreement that was signed on Jan. 21 at the Government Secretariat’s headquarters in Mexico City.

That pact guarantees that the water extracted from the Yaqui River will only be used for human consumption in Hermosillo and that the rights of the region’s Yaqui and peasant communities will be respected.

Saturday, February 15, 2014

YAVAPAI COUNTY - A Southern California man was arrested in Yavapai county with more than $100,000 in cash and drugs in his car.
It happened Monday on I17 south near Highway 260. A Deputy pulled 63-year-old Karl Harz over for allegedly speeding and a lane change violation.
The Deputy noticed it appeared Harz was under the influence of a stimulant and wasn't straightforward about his travel plans.
Due to suspicions Harz might be transporting contraband, deputies requested permission to search the vehicle and Harz declined. As a result, deputies deployed a YCSO certified narcotics detection K9 for an exterior sniff of the Taurus.
The K9 displayed an odor alert on the vehicle indicating the likelihood of narcotics inside. During a check of the vehicle interior, deputies found a stack of U.S. Currency, approximately $9000, by the front seat and a small quantity of methamphetamine in a cup holder.
When the trunk was examined, deputies located several stacks of U.S. Currency in a duffle bag and additional currency stacks hidden inside liquor bottle bags. The total exceeded $104,000.
Based on additional information developed at the scene, deputies determined the money was connected to drug transactions and the cash was seized. The K9 alerted to the currency during a controlled blind sniff test conducted as part of follow-up during evidence processing.
Harz was booked at the Camp Verde Detention Center on charges including Money Laundering, Possess Dangerous Drugs and DUI-Drugs. He remains in-custody on a $250,000 bond.
The K9 team has been very busy in recent weeks with drug associated cash seizures including $52,000 on February 5 and $10,000 on January 31, 2014

MANAMA: A Bahraini policeman died on Saturday after being wounded in a bomb explosion during protests to mark the third anniversary of an uprising led by the opposition.The Interior Ministry said the policeman was one of four wounded by “terrorist” blasts on Friday.“Some villages saw rioting, vandalism and the targeting of policemen. This required police to respond to these criminal acts with legal means,” the ministry said, adding that 26 suspected rioters and vandals had been arrested the same day.Dozens of protesters demonstrated in different parts of the island, throwing stones at police firing tear gas. “Three years since the start of the protests, we have seen no peace,” said a 34-year-old clerk in Saar village who gave his name only as Abu Ali. “Every day...youngsters go out and burn tires on the roads and the police attack them with teargas.”Information Minister Samira Rajab said dialogue would go on, blaming “terrorists” for the clashes of the last few days.

UNITED NATIONS: Western powers pushed forward Tuesday with a UN resolution threatening sanctions against Syria despite Russia’s veto threat, with President Barack Obama sharply criticizing Moscow’s opposition to a measure to help millions in desperate need of humanitarian aid.

The resolution, which expresses the Security Council’s intention to impose sanctions if the Syrian government does not allow unrestricted aid deliveries to civilians caught in the fighting, was circulated among the 15 council members. Western countries made clear they had no intention of dropping the proposal despite Russia’s vow to block it a day earlier. Obama, speaking at a joint news conference in Washington with French President Francois Hollande, said there is “great unanimity among most of the Security Council” in favor of the resolution and “Russia is a holdout.”Obama said Secretary of State John Kerry and others have “delivered a very direct message” pressuring the Russians to drop their opposition. He said “it is not just the Syrians that are responsible” for the plight of civilians but “the Russians, as well, if they are blocking this kind of resolution.”Hollande made clear France was determined to move forward with the resolution.“How you can object to humanitarian corridors? Why would you prevent the vote of a resolution if, in good faith, it is all about saving human lives?” he said. In Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the text is a “one-sided” effort to blame the Syrian government, which Moscow supports, for holding up aid. Still, Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin attended a Security Council meeting Tuesday to discuss the text and told reporters later that it was “a good exchange of the challenges of the humanitarian situation in Syria.”A day earlier, both Churkin and China’s ambassador were no-shows at a meeting with supporters of the draft resolution, and the Russian ambassador made clear his country would veto it if it were put to a vote. China sent its deputy ambassador to Tuesday’s meeting. Russia and China have blocked three previous Western-backed resolutions that would have pressured President Bashar Assad to end the now three-year-old civil war. The divided Security Council did come together in October to approve a presidential statement appealing for immediate access to all areas of Syria to deliver aid. Western and Arab countries want to go a step further with a legally binding resolution. Pressure mounted on Russia and China to consider the proposal, with UN spokesman Martin Nesirky saying Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos support the measure. Nesirky, however, said it was up to the Security Council to decide. France’s UN Ambassador, Gerard Araud, said the text — which calls for pauses to allow humanitarian access and an end to sieges — is “very simple, not political. It’s balanced. There is no reason to oppose it.” “We are facing the worst humanitarian tragedy since the genocide in Rwanda in 1994,” Araud said. “Starvation is used as a weapon by the regime, and the regime is bombing in an indiscriminate way the city of Aleppo.” “I think we should move quickly,” he added. ___ Associated Press writer Alexandra Olson contributed to this story from New York